Texans can rely on Rackers to salvage points from drive

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Five of the six games the Texans played without Matt Schaub were decided by seven or fewer points, and the Texans failed to score more than 22 in any of them, reaching the end zone just 10 times. That’s disconcerting.

But as they head into the playoffs for the first time Saturday against Cincinnati after closing the regular season with three consecutive defeats, the touchdown drought would be more worrisome if kicker Neil Rackers hadn’t found a groove following a brief off-key stretch.

Post-Schaub, Rackers has salvaged something from 13 stalled possessions with field goals, drilling his last eight in a row against Carolina, Indianapolis and Tennessee. Because the Texans don’t seem capable of blowing out the Bengals, their chances of keeping this historic breakout season alive beyond Saturday might rest on the reliability of Rackers’ right foot.

Which also in part hinges on the chemistry between him and his new old holder, Matt Turk.

Turk, 43, who won the punting job in 2007, held for Rackers last season after the kicker left Arizona to sign with the Texans, then beat out longtime Texan Kris Brown during the preseason. But Turk, a free agent, went to Jacksonville after the lockout ended, which opened the door for rookie punter Brett Hartmann here.

But after a mediocre start, the Jaguars waived Turk. Hartmann’s season-ending knee injury late in the Atlanta game on Dec. 4 won him a second chapter with the Texans. On the surface, it seemed a perfect solution, a good fit under the circumstances. But there was a problem.

Rackers had adjusted to Hartmann’s nuances.

Subtle differences

“You’re looking at a lot more of the ball when you’ve got Turk out there,” Rackers said. “His hand is a little higher on the ball. He leans it a little more to the right, which I like. But with Brett, we tended to have the ball a little more straight up and down. So I feel like I adjusted a bit to that, which gave us more draw.

“The ball in Cincinnati was the most frustrating kick of the year. (Rackers was wide to the right from 47 yards out at the end of the first half.) I hit it perfect. If Brett’s holding, the ball draws right down the middle. But with Turk, it stays bone straight — six inches right of the upright.

“I’d adjusted to Brett. I needed to adjust back to Matt, and I have. Now I can attack the ball, and everything is good.”

Rackers began the season in harmony with Hartmann, going 10-for-10 over the first four games with no attempts longer than 36 yards. His first miss, from 41 yards, proved costly in a 25-20 loss to Oakland. Needing a touchdown in the final seconds instead of a chip-shot field goal to win, a harried Schaub threw an interception. But to be fair, Rackers had later nailed a compensating 54-yarder.

Ultimately, that would be the only outcome for the Texans that arguably turned on a Rackers miss, although rookie quarterback T.J. Yates bailed him out in Cincinnati with a dramatic late touchdown drive for the win. By year’s end, Rackers had made 32 of 38 field-goal attempts, the former a single-season Texans record. He scored 135 points, also a franchise record and just five shy of his career high with the Cardinals in 2005, when he became the first NFL player to boot 40 field goals in a season.

True at long range

Oddly, Rackers was 4-for-5 beyond the 50 but only 4-for-8 from 40 to 49 yards. In two seasons, he has missed just once in 44 tries from inside the 40, a wide-left 37-yarder in a 37-9 Texans blowout at Tampa Bay. That was the first of five kicks, including an extra point, that he missed over a five-game span.

Coach Gary Kubiak expressed his concern, although Kubiak denies he ever called out Rackers.

“There are a lot of parts of our football team that have struggled from a consistency standpoint,” Kubiak said. “He was one of those guys. But he has been very solid the last two weeks. One of the good things about Neil is that he has kicked in playoff games. He’s kicked in the Super Bowl. He knows what it takes. (Kickers) can be difference-makers. So I’m expecting (Rackers and Turk) to continue to do their job.”

The five previous NFL playoff games in Houston hosted by the Oilers were decided by a combined 27 points, and two were won by field goals in overtime.

Playoff pressure

Rackers might not know much about Houston’s playoff past — he was the Bengals’ sixth-round draft choice in 2000 — but he knows plenty about how the postseason feels.

He toed the football in six playoff games, including Super Bowl XLIII, for the Cardinals. The trick, Rackers said, is to acknowledge the potentially critical nature of field goals in the NFL’s sudden-death season — but to also dismiss it when it’s time to kick.

“The thing is, don’t worry about what you’re seeing or where you are,” he said. “Tell yourself, ‘Go kick the ball.’ Playoff games are very important. Of course they are. But every game is important. Every kick is important. You’re supposed to do your job every week.”

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Breaking down Rackers’ season

First four games: 10-for-10 on field goals with no kick longer than 36 yards, salvaging repeated red-zone penetrations when the offense stalled.

Final five games: 10-for-12, making his final eight in a row, including a 53-yarder. His misses were from 49 and 47 (both wide right) in the first two games after Matt Turk returned to replace injured rookie Brett Hartmann as holder